Black holes can grow as large as 50 billion suns, study says [View all]
December 20, 2015
Black holes can grow as large as 50 billion suns, study says
by Shayne Jacopian
Scientists at the University of Leicester have figured out just how big black holes can grow, according to a release from the university.
And how big is that? Try the equivalent mass of 50 billion of our suns.
Professor Andrew King, the lead author of the study “How Big Can a Black Hole Grow?”, which is published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters, mainly examines supermassive black holes living in galactic centers.
No gas, no growth
Noting that discs of rotating gas that surround black holes and fall inward, King calculated that a black hole would have to be as large as 50 billion suns to keep such a disc from forming around the black hole—the study also argues that a black hole without a disc is unable to grow any further, as the hole is no longer collecting new material.
Read more at http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1113411568/study-shows-black-holes-can-grow-as-large-as-50-billion-suns-122015/#fQb5YwY747BQDZ5c.99
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